Group Processes Within Gangs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy R. Lauger
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Group Processes ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Gang Member ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Gang Members

Street gangs are, by definition, social groups that contain patterns of interactions between gang members, associates, and other gangs in their social environment. The structure and content of these interaction patterns, or group processes, are essential for both understanding gang life and explaining collective and individual behavior. For example, variations in organizational sophistication, internal cohesion, and individual-level social integration influence the day-to-day experiences of gang members and can affect criminal behavior. Social ties between gang members are also mediums for street socialization and the development and/or transmission of gang culture. As prospective gang members age and become exposed to street life, they gravitate to peers and collectively learn about how to negotiate their social environment. They connect to other gang members and model the gang’s ideals to become accepted by the group. Routine interactions in the gang communicate the nuances of gang culture and explain the group’s expectations for violent behavior. These lessons are reinforced when conflicts with other groups arise and contentious interactions escalate into serious threats or actual violence. Cultural meanings developed in the gang can alter how a member perceives social situations, various social roles (e.g., gender roles), and his or her sense of self. Interactions within the gang develop the gang’s collective identity, which becomes an ideal standard for members to pursue. Gang members perform this idealized notion of “gang member” in public settings, often acting as if they are capable of extreme violence. For some members these performances may be fleeting and largely disconnected from the ideals to which they truly aspire, while others may fully embrace the ideals of the gang. Such variation is contingent on social processes within the gang and how socially integrated an individual is to other members. Researching social processes within gangs provides a wealth of information about how life in the gang influences gang member behavior.

Who tells which story and why? Micro and macro contexts in narrative

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna de Fina
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Local Meaning ◽  
The Many

AbstractThis article focuses on the inter-relations between storytelling and micro and macro contexts. It explores how narrative activity is shaped by and shapes in unique ways the local context of interaction in a community of practice, an Italian American card-playing club, but also illustrates how the storytelling events that take place within this local community relate to wider social processes. The analysis centers on a number of topically linked narratives to argue that these texts have a variety of functions linked to the roles and relationships negotiated by individuals within the club and to the construction of a collective identity for the community. However, the narrative activities that occur within the club also articulate aspects of the wider social context. It is argued that, in the case analyzed here, local meaning-making activities connect with macro social processes through the negotiation, within the constraints of local practices, of the position and roles of the ethnic group in the wider social space. In this sense, narrative activity can be seen as one of the many symbolic practices (Bourdieu 2002 [1977]) in which social groups engage to carry out struggles for legitimation and recognition in order to accumulate symbolic capital and greater social power.

Intersectionality, Social Identity Theory, and Explorations of Hybridity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Taksa ◽  
Glen Powell ◽  
Laknath Jayasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Identity Theory ◽  
Group Processes ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Identity Negotiations ◽  
Bodily Experiences

The fundamental difference in focus between the fields of sociology and psychology, notably between discriminatory processes and cognitive processes, has limited attempts to consider intersectionality and Social Identity Theory (SIT) together. The aim of this chapter is to address this gap by combining intersectional and SIT approaches, recognizing their contributions and identifying issues and gaps. The chapter provides an overview of the epistemological and ontological differences between the two fields and the divergent ways intersectional and SIT scholars conceptualise individual and collective identity/ies. Close attention is given to the way multiple identities and groups are construed and interpreted. The chapter highlights the significance of conceptualizations of emergent identities, hybridity, practices and space for the study of identity. On this basis, itr examines how studies on spatial contexts of racialised masculinity and the bodily experiences of racialised men can enhance understandings of individual identity negotiations and group processes in specific locations.

scholarly journals Being Native American in business: Culture, identity, and authentic leadership in modern American Indian enterprises

Leadership ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Stewart ◽  
Amy Klemm Verbos ◽  
Carolyn Birmingham ◽  
Stephanie L Black ◽  
Joseph Scott Gladstone
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
American Indian ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Business Culture ◽  
American Business ◽  
Tribal Culture

Tribally owned American Indian enterprises provide a unique cross-cultural setting for emerging Native American business leaders. This article examines the manner in which American Indian leaders negotiate the boundaries between their indigenous organizations and the nonindigenous communities in which they do business. Through a series of qualitative interviews, we find that American Indian business leaders fall back on a strong sense of “self,” which allows them to maintain effective leadership across boundaries. This is highly consistent with theories of authentic leadership. Furthermore, we find that leaders define self through their collective identity, which is heavily influenced by tribal affiliation and tribal culture. We add to the literature on authentic leadership by showing the role that culture and collective identity have in creating leader authenticity within the indigenous community.

scholarly journals The discursive cultural representations of Gentiles: A contextual approach using migration theory

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zorodzai Dube
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Social Boundaries ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Contextual Approach ◽  
Self Identity

How are social boundaries created and how are they maintained? To an extent, the way people look, dress and talk demarcates cultural markers that distinguish them from others − hence, giving them a sense of self-categorisation and self-identity. However, with time such collective identity might need readjustment when people from another culture become insiders and neighbours within the perceived social boundaries. Regarding this, James Dunn noted that a challenge of social cohesion between the Jews and the Gentiles existed during the 1st century, necessitated by the conversion of Gentiles to Christianity. In response, to keep their exclusive collective identity, the Jews demanded that the Gentiles observe Jewish law. This article develops Dunn’s view that the observance of Jewish law provided implicit social exclusion strategies towards the Gentiles. However, Dunn did not elaborate further concerning the strategies upon which Gentiles were excluded. As contribution to fill that void, this article drew on strategies of inclusion and exclusion from the analogy of migration in South Africa and elsewhere.Hoe word sosiale en kulturele grense geskep en onderhou? Tot ’n mate bewerkstellig die manier waarop mense uiterlik voorkom, aantrek en praat kulturele kenmerke wat sekere groepe van ander onderskei, en verleen so aan hulle ’n bepaalde identiteit en klassifisering. So ’n gemeenskaplike identiteit moet mettertyd aangepas word as mense van ander kulture met ander gebruike deel word van die binnekring. In hierdie verband merk James Dunn op dat, in die eerste eeu na Christus, die Jode en heidene aangespoor is tot ’n samehorigheidsgevoel wat deurdie bekering van heidene tot die Christendom genoodsaak is. In reaksie hierop het die Jode aanvanklik verwag dat die heidene die Joodse wet moes nakom. Hierdie artikel bou op Dunn se siening, naamlik dat die onderhouding van die Joodse wet sosiale strategieë ontwikkel het wat die heidene onvoorwaardelik uitgesluit het. Dunn brei egter nie verder oor die sogenaamde strategieë uit nie. In hierdie artikel word gepoog om hierdie leemte aan te vul deur middel van ’n vergelyking met kontemporêre migrasie in Suid-Afrika en die strategieë van insluiting en uitsluiting wat bespeur word in sulke kontekste, te verdiskonteer.

Contextual variability in biopsychosocial pathways to violent offending

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Fenimore ◽  
Wesley G. Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Maladaptive Behavior ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Violent Offending ◽  
Violent Criminal ◽  
Biopsychosocial Theory ◽  
Contextual Variability

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use data from the Longitudinal Study of Violent Criminal Behavior in the USA to examine case configurations of violent behavior using a biopsychosocial framework. Specifically, the theory posits that arguably all behavior is the result of specific combinations of biopsychological (individual) and sociocultural (environmental) characteristics that are interacting within the individual. With regard to criminal and violent behavior, the theoretical assumption is that this maladaptive behavior is the result of a negative interaction between the biopsychological and sociocultural factors. Design/methodology/approach The study design consists of secondary data analysis. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations was performed using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Violent Criminal Behavior to formally explore the tenets of Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory. Findings The results suggest that there are main effects for ego strength, family problems, family incohesiveness and underachievement as they relate to offending. A possible six-way interaction was also identified within the case configurations that provides empirical support for Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory of deviance. Originality/value The present study contributes to the existing biopsychosocial literature by providing insight on the contextual variability in pathways to violent offending. Specifically, the evidence provided indicates that Cortés and Gatti’s (1972) biopsychosocial theory of deviance can be extended to comparing violent and non-violent offenders. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.

scholarly journals How Moving Together Binds Us Together: The Social Consequences of Interpersonal Entrainment and Group Processes

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Cross ◽  
Martine Turgeon ◽  
Gray Atherton
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Group Processes ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Group ◽  
The Individual

AbstractInterpersonal entrainment has been shown to have a wide variety of social consequences which span far beyond those that could be considered purely pro-social. This work reviews all of the social effects of entrainment and the various explanations for them. The group formation framework emerges as a parsimonious account claiming that as we entrain our sense of self is temporarily diluted as an interdependent identity becomes more salient, thus leading to a range of social and psychological consequences which are pro-group. The sense of belonging arising from moving together is conducive towards pro-social behaviours; yet, it also makes the individual more susceptible to adopting the ideology of the group without critical thinking. We argue that the wide landscape of interpersonal entrainment’s effects reflects its primary effect, de-individuation, and the formation of a common group identity amongst co-actors.

scholarly journals Social Network Analysis to Examine Interaction Patterns in Knowledge Building Communities

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald N. Philip
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Knowledge Building ◽  
Group Processes ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Grade 5 ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Building Community

This paper describes use of social network analysis to examine student interaction patterns in a Grade 5/6 Knowledge Building class. The analysis included face-to-face interactions and interactions in the Knowledge Forum® Knowledge Building environment. It is argued that sociogram data are useful to reveal group processes; in sociological terms, the community lies in the connections among the group. A classroom of unconnected individuals is unlikely to form as a Knowledge Building community; data analyses reported in this study show promise in understanding the dynamics of Knowledge Building in a consistent and measurable way. The strength of the work is not in particular patterns demonstrated but in new forms of assessment and their potential to inform work as it proceeds. The research reported shows that teachers and students are finding social network analysis useful and that through their engagement research-practitioner-engineer teams are better positioned to develop tools to advance Knowledge Building pedagogy.

Violent Criminal Behavior Over the Life Course: A Review of the Longitudinal and Comparative Research

1993 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Laub ◽  
Janet L. Lauritsen
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Violent Criminal ◽  
The Life Course

In this paper we review the existing longitudinal research on violent criminal behavior. Although interested in comparative research on this topic, we found that virtually all of the longitudinal studies comprised individuals from Western societies. The primary issue we examine concerns the extent to which there are universal patterns of violent behavior over the life course. Based on the available evidence, our best guess is that universal patterns do not exist It cannot be answered definitively, however, to what extent sociocultural variations in violence reflect differences in opportunity structures or differences in developmental trajectories and transitions over the life course. In order to address these issues, specific recommendations for future research, both within countries and cross-nationally, are presented and discussed.

Comorbid mental illness and criminalness implications for housing and treatment

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole R. Bartholomew ◽  
Robert D. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Biopsychosocial Intervention ◽  
Psychiatric Outcomes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Novel Model

The relationship between mental illness, violence, and criminal behavior is complex, and involves a multifaceted interaction of biological, psychological, and social processes. In this article, we review the emerging research that examines the neurobiological and psychological factors that distinguish between persons with mental illness who do and who do not engage in crime and violence. Additionally, a novel model for understanding the interaction between mental illness and criminalness is proposed. (As defined by Morgan and colleagues, criminalness is defined as behavior that breaks laws and social conventions and/or violates the rights and wellbeing of others.) Stemming from this model and outlined research, we argue that management and treatment approaches should target the co-occurring domains of mental illness and criminalness to improve criminal and psychiatric outcomes. Specifically, we discuss and propose effective housing (management) and biopsychosocial intervention strategies for improving outcomes.

Assessed Danger-to-Others as a Reason for Psychiatric Hospitalization: An Investigation of Patients' Perspectives

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Welches ◽  
Michael Pica
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Hospitalization ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Humanistic Psychology ◽  
Existential Psychotherapy ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Threats To Self ◽  
Psychiatrically Hospitalized

AbstractThis study investigated subjective experiences of nine men who had been psychiatrically hospitalized upon being assessed as "dangerous-to-others-due-to-a-mental-illness." Using a phenomenological interviewing approach, researchers helped subjects construct narratives of their pre-hospitalization experiences. The research illuminated aspects of life-contexts that were shared among all or nearly all subjects: feeling ostracized and alone; struggling with longstanding and pervasive feelings of inadequacy; experiencing a sense or a fear of having little or no control or options in life; and feeling emotionally depressed, misunderstood, and uncared for. Situations immediately preceding hospitalization were characterized by subjects experiencing threats to their sense of self-esteem that were of heightened intensity. In five cases, subjects reported anxiety related to self-fragmentation or becoming "nothing." Perceived threats to self-worth and self-structure were accompanied by anger and aggressive acts or impulses. In all cases, aggressive impulses and threats, and violence appeared to be in the service of self-validation and self-empowerment. In cases of violent behavior, an apparent function of the subjects' behaviors was toward self-consolidation. Based on findings, the researchers discuss implications consistent with humanistic psychology and existential psychotherapy principles and practices.

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